Topic: How deep do you plant your potatoes

[Digeroo]

Looking round our allotments the trenches seed to come in all shapes and sizes.   So I am interested to know how deep to try and put my spuds.  Presume they keep more moist lower down.

[Flighty]

About six inches deep is fine!  :) 

[Digeroo]

About six inches deep is fine!  :) 

I think some people round here must be trying to visit relatives in Australia  ;D

[earlypea]

There was an interesting thread on allotments.org forum where people bury them extra deep so that they don't need to earth up at all - maybe that's what the Aussie diggers are up to.  I can't remember how deep exactly.

[cornykev]

I've done mine 6 inches, but fearing they come up too quick when the frosts are still about, it doesn't hurt to leave an extra 2 inches mounded on top.  ;D ;D ;D

[calendula]

there's no real limit but 6 minimum and then best to earth up - I plant about 10 and don't bother earthing up and get great crops - no need to make extra work  8)

[Tee Gee]

Roughly twice the tuber diameter!

[Ian Pearson]

During early season, the soil is colder the deeper you go. For a quicker start into growth, plant a bit shallower.

I've seen sunken beds used in dry areas to cut down on watering.

[Digeroo]

We are on gravel so the soil dries out rather quickly.  The other advantage of putting them deep is presumably that they will break up the soil deeper down. 

[artichoke]

I spent a couple of years digging down to Australia on the advice that the tubers would have access to more damp earth than if they were closer to the surface (South East, very sparse rain for a few years) and  that their stems rising so far through the earth would produce more potatoes.

My experience was that you break your back once putting them in, and again digging them out.

Now I dig and manure the soil, then use a big trowel to bury each one separately about 8 inches down. I am done with trenches. I rake the  ground flat afterwards, and have the option (if I have enough energy) to dollop half made compost on top as they emerge. I planted 250 last year like this, and am very happy with the crop, sackfuls in the garage still. (103 in the ground this year, and counting).

I do admire the long trenches and beautifully sculpted raised ridges on other plots around me, aesthetically elegant - but that's my way.

[theothermarg]

This made me smile as I have just put my potatoes (mine are called Ians surprise as he chose them and I don't know their right names) abot 6" deep. we used to fall out every year at this time as he used to dig a trench worthy of a main drain. I was also tempted not to use a line but I did, not that it makes much difference cuzI don't do straight lines
marg

[Pesky Wabbit]

I dig the ground over, level it off with a rake and use a hand bulb planter to make the holes. Fully in I think must be about 6". then I make a slight raised mound so I know where I've planted.

As they start poking through, I'll earth up - also keeps 'em in a straight line. I dont do "organic lines". :)

[Oldhippy]

( I`m glad the bulb planter method works for you too, Wabbit. I`ve done it like this for  years with satisfactory results. )
One thing that always confuses me is - when people talk about planting six inches deep, do they mean six inches to the bottom of the hole or six inches to the top of the potato?

[Digeroo]

cuzI don't do straight lines

I don't seem to do straight lines either.   I bought 5 each of 9 different varieties so I dug a row of small trenches and the ones at the end are not at the same angle as those at the start.  They sort of fan round  One person made such a rude remark about them I told him that I was trying out different alignments to the sun as the allotments do not run truly north south.

Many thanks for all your comments, it does not seem that digging deep is truly necessary. 

One thing though if I dig a trench 6 inches or so deep do the potatoes go down another 6 inches?

[calendula]

not much in nature is straight  ;D another lazy/easy way to plant spuds if you have loads of manure at hand is to just lay the spud on the ground and cover it with manure, it works but what you do have to  remember is that the spuds that will grow near the surface will or could go green and you don't want that to happen, hence the depth is basically important.

[antipodes]

I usually shove the shovel in, wiggle it about and the spud goes down the hole. So not sure it would be 6 inches! But then I earth up a little then cover liberally with stable waste (Horse poo in loads of straw, put a thick layer on) once the foliage starts. This keeps the ground moist and dark but saves me breaking my back digging vast trenches.

[Pesky Wabbit]

not much in nature is straight  ;D another lazy/easy way to plant spuds if you have loads of manure at hand is to just lay the spud on the ground and cover it with manure, it works but what you do have to  remember is that the spuds that will grow near the surface will or could go green and you don't want that to happen, hence the depth is basically important.

Exactly - thats why I need to earth up, usually twice, sometimes three times.

[TrikiDiki]

I like Geoff Hamiltons method.

Dig your trench then plant the spuds 6" into the bottom of the trench. Lay polythene over the trench to create a 'cloche'. As the shoots emerge, gradually fill the trench, when the soil is flat and the shoots still emerge then earth up as normal.

This gives a much longer stem length to produce more spuds.

[Pescador]

Why has nobody answered 'Oldhippy's question about depth?
Is 6 inches deep to the top or bottom of the potato?

[Flighty]

It's around six inches to the bottom of the potato!  Any planted tuber should be at least a couple of inches below the surface facing upwards.